Catastrophe - Gradualism & punctuated equilibrium

[joshua 1 9]

Every day we turn on the news and learn about the latest Catastrophe. One thing always seems to remain consistent. People were not ready and they do not deal well with Catastrophe. Jesus talks about building on a solid foundation. Yet the world wants to build on sand. So when the storm comes far to often those that are not prepared suffer loss.

Something else seems to be consistent in that there always seems to be someone that was warning them. Only they were happy and content to listen to the don't worry be happy people. Right up to when the disaster strikes and their home is gone. Then it is usually the people that have prepared for Catastrophe that goes into do what they can to help these people.

 

[MrsFoundit]

Do you believe that present day catastrophe is evidence of a repeating pattern through earth history?

 

[The Barbarian]

There have always been hurricanes, earthquakes and floods. Now and then, as in the Scablands, the flooding of the Black Sea, the Deccan Traps, and the Chicxulub asteroid strike, they are of "Biblical proportions."

But these are not typical; most of the processes reworking the Earth are gradual and continuous for long periods of time.

 

[Brightmoon]

I’m not sure what this has to do with punk eek vs gradualism .

 

[The Barbarian]

I’m not sure what this has to do with punk eek vs gradualism .

You do know that Gould cited (among others) horses and forams as examples of gradual evolution, right?

 

[Brightmoon]

Gould didn’t disbelieve in gradualism he just said it was rarely documented in the fossil record. Rarely doesn’t mean never

 

[The Barbarian]

Right.

 

[Brightmoon]

Every day we turn on the news and learn about the latest Catastrophe. One thing always seems to remain consistent. People were not ready and they do not deal well with Catastrophe. Jesus talks about building on a solid foundation. Yet the world wants to build on sand. So when the storm comes far to often those that are not prepared suffer loss.

Something else seems to be consistent in that there always seems to be someone that was warning them. Only they were happy and content to listen to the don't worry be happy people. Right up to when the disaster strikes and their home is gone. Then it is usually the people that have prepared for Catastrophe that goes into do what they can to help these people.

that the world suffers from these things is mainly an artifact of natural phenomena. Plate tectonics cause volcanos earthquakes and tsunamis for example . Excessive rain can cause floods and mudslides and as snow can cause avalanches. Ice ages are due to the Milankovitch cycles etc etc etc . Bronze Age people had no understanding of these and we have a limited understanding so we don’t have the extreme loss of life . Mt St Helens or the Boxing Day earthquake and tsunami, for example, could have been a lot worse .

 

[SkyWriting]

But these are not typical; most of the processes reworking the Earth are gradual and continuous for long periods of time.

That's what all those disaster victims claimed hours before needing a new city built.

 

[The Barbarian]

That's what all those disaster victims claimed hours before needing a new city built.

No uniformitarian thinker denies that there are episodes of sudden change. Lyell, for example, noted the evidence for earthquakes and floods. It's just that such episodes are, as I said, not typical of the forces that rework the Earth.

 

[SkyWriting]

No uniformitarian thinker denies that there are episodes of sudden change. Lyell, for example, noted the evidence for earthquakes and floods. It's just that such episodes are, as I said, not typical of the forces that rework the Earth.

Typically, the earth is not reworked until such events.

 

[Brightmoon]

That's what all those disaster victims claimed hours before needing a new city built.

most doesn’t mean all. Of course some destructive geological, and other destructive natural phenomena can happen quickly .

 

[SkyWriting]

Of course some destructive geological, and other destructive natural phenomena can happen quickly .

That's what all the people said who were prepared.

 

[The Barbarian]

Typically, the earth is not reworked until such events.

The Himalyas, for example, are the result of motion a few centimeters a year; we actually measure such movement, using GPS sensors anchored to bedrock. Sounds gradual to me. So is the Atlantic ocean. And the Mississippi Delta. And various archepelagos. And so on.

 

[Brightmoon]

Typically, the earth is not reworked until such events.

Don’t forget the widening of the Atlantic Ocean due to plate tectonics New York rarely has earthquakes from that . The plates move about a 1to 14 cm ( a half inch to about 6 ) every year . In fact most places don’t have earthquakes